Melo expects to be with Nuggets for forseeable future

Carmelo Anthony left little doubt that he expects to remain with the Denver Nuggets for the immediate future.

Even as rumors swirled that Anthony had been granted permission by the Nuggets to work on a contract with the New Jersey Nets to facilitate a trade, the 6-foot-8 forward said he doesn’t expect to be leaving his current team.

“No, not at all,” Anthony said. “I’m going to play Wednesday against Oklahoma City and then against the Lakers. Then Indiana.”

The All-Star forward also denied he had heard about the development allowing him to personally negotiate with the Nets to circumvent the league’s tampering rules.

“If that was the case, I’m sure I would have gotten a phone call,” Anthony said.

The Spurs confounded Anthony with a variety of defensive looks, prompting a miserable night where he hit only 5-for-17 from the field with four turnovers, a technical foul and 12 points. It matched his third-lowest scoring night of the season and was among his four worst shooting games of the season.

“They doubled (Anthony) a lot. They forced him into a crowd a lot,” Denver coach George Karl said. “They do about as good a job on that as anybody in basketball. We didn’t get him any easy ones in the first half and he got a little frustrated. We need to play as a team at both ends of the court with a little more togetherness than we did tonight.”

Anthony remained in the locker room almost 10 minutes after the rest of his teammates had left, admitting that the pressures of the potential trade are weighing on him and his family.

“It is,” he said. “I get tired of answering the questions, but I live with it. I wake up every morning and keep my head high and be professional and answer the questions as ya’ll ask ’em.”